Alabama's CHOOSE Act in Plain English: What the ESA Is, Who Runs It and What It Pays Homeschoolers
By My Learning Source · October 30, 2026 · Scholarships, Guides
Ask ten Alabama homeschool parents about the CHOOSE Act and you'll get ten versions, and a good number of them will be half right. So here is the whole thing in plain English: what it is, who runs it, what it pays a homeschool family, and where the strings are. For the short version with every official link in one place, see our CHOOSE Act guide.
What it is
The CHOOSE Act, short for the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students' Education Act of 2024, is Alabama's education savings account program. Governor Kay Ivey signed it on March 7, 2024. It's Act 2024-21, and it sits in Title 16, Chapter 6J of the Code of Alabama. The definitions in Section 16-6J-2 are worth a read if you like knowing exactly what words mean.
Here's the odd part. Legally, each award is a refundable state income tax credit. You never claim it on a tax return, though. The Alabama Department of Revenue deposits the credit into an education savings account, or ESA, and you spend from that account on approved education costs. The law says the money isn't taxable income to you or your child, and it can't be taken to offset a debt you owe (16-6J-3(g)).
Who runs it
The Alabama Department of Revenue, known as ALDOR, runs the program, not the State Department of Education. ALDOR hired ClassWallet to handle applications, accounts and payments, so most of what a family touches is ClassWallet: the application portal, the digital wallet and the help line. The address chooseact.alabama.gov forwards to the program site, CHOOSE Act Alabama. ALDOR keeps its own CHOOSE Act page with the provider lists, and its program rules are in Alabama Administrative Code chapter 810-28-1.
How much it pays for 2026–27
Both are ceilings. The statute says the award is that amount or the actual cost of qualifying expenses, whichever is less (16-6J-3(c)). For 2026–27, money was deposited beginning July 1, 2026.
"Home education program" is ALDOR's phrase, and it is broad. The 2026–27 Parent Guide says it includes an individual or group program, homeschool, co-op and similar arrangements. ALDOR's rules go further: a homeschool student counts "even if enrolled in a church school, homeschool co-op, or similar entity." Most Alabama homeschoolers are legally enrolled in a church school, so that one sentence is why the program works for most of them. We cover it in depth in a separate article.
Who can get it
The child has to be 5 to 19, live in Alabama and not have graduated, or 5 to 21 with an IEP or a 504 plan. The child also has to be lawfully present in the United States. The law shuts out three groups: students getting an Alabama Accountability Act scholarship or tax credit, children enrolled in a private school that isn't a CHOOSE participating school, and children enrolled full-time in a public school unless that school is a participating school charging them tuition.
Income is the moving piece. For 2026–27, new families had to be at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level on 2025 income, which was $96,450 for a family of four. Starting with 2027–28, the law drops the income limit and any Alabama parent of an eligible student can apply.
Universal doesn't mean unlimited, though. Awards are made from a fund, and when there isn't enough for everyone they go in a set order: the first 500 to students with an IEP or 504 plan, then students who had an award the year before and their siblings, then children of active-duty service members at D- or F-rated public schools, then everyone else by household income.
How the money moves
The money never comes to you. You spend it in ClassWallet in two ways: Pay Vendor, where you pay an approved provider against its invoice, and the ClassWallet Marketplace, where you buy approved goods from approved retailers. There is no reimbursement. If you buy a math book at the store with your own debit card, the program won't pay you back.
Before you can spend, you have to accept the CHOOSE Act affidavit in ClassWallet for each child. Until you do, the balance shows $0. And the money is use-it-or-lose-it: whatever is left on June 30, 2027, goes back to the CHOOSE Act Fund.
What it pays for
For a home-educated student, the 2026–27 approved list covers textbooks and curriculum in approved subjects, school supplies, private tutoring, online courses, educational software and subscriptions, therapies for students with disabilities, test fees and test prep, a computer every two years, and other technology up to set limits. Every purchase has to come from an ALDOR-approved Education Service Provider. Sports fees, field trips, food, transportation, child care and toys are out.
What it asks of you
By applying, you agree to use the money only for qualifying expenses, that nobody else is claiming a credit for the same child, that you'll pay anything above the account balance, and that you'll follow ALDOR's rules (16-6J-4). You renew every year. One thing it doesn't ask of a home-education student: neither the statute nor ALDOR's rules require that child to take a test or report scores. The annual testing in the law is a duty of participating schools for the students enrolled there.
How big it has gotten
For 2026–27, the program took in 29,341 applications covering 48,927 students, and 34,322 students were using funds this school year, according to the governor's office on October 16, 2026. In July the governor's office said more than
What comes next
On July 1, 2026, the governor's office said the 2027–28 application process will begin in January 2027 and will be open to all Alabama families regardless of income. As of October 27, 2026, no exact dates had been posted on the program site or ALDOR's page. When they are, they'll go on our education calendar.
The Pruitts homeschool two children in Prattville through a church school cover. Their income was under the 2026–27 limit, so they applied as a new family in February and were approved in April. After accepting both affidavits in July, they had $4,000 to work with for 2026–27. They paid an approved online Latin course through Pay Vendor, bought a math curriculum and a microscope in the Marketplace, and set aside part of the balance for a laptop for their older son, keeping an eye on June 30 so nothing went back unspent.
(A composite example — names and details are illustrative, drawn from situations homeschool families commonly describe.)
Your short list
- Read the 2026–27 Parent Guide once, start to finish. It's short.
- Know your number:
My Learning Source is an independent marketplace and is not affiliated with the Alabama Department of Revenue, ClassWallet, the CHOOSE Act program or any Alabama school district, and a listing on our site does not mean a vendor is an approved Education Service Provider. Amounts, dates and rules change every year — confirm details with ClassWallet or ALDOR before you act. Family examples are composites, not real individuals.